"if ever i heard the like of that! one won't be able to open one's lips next before you, miss hereford. did i say anything about her dying, pray? or about your dying? or my dying? time enough to snap me up when i do."

thus spoke jemima, with a volubility that nearly took her breath away. she had come to my room in the morning with the news that mrs. edwin barley was worse. i burst into tears, and asked if she were going to die: which brought forth the above rebuke.

"my thoughts were running upon whether we servants should have mourning given us for young mr. king," resumed jemima, as if she were bent upon removing unpleasant impressions from my mind. "now just you make haste and dress yourself, miss hereford--mrs. edwin barley has been asking for you."

i made haste; jemima helped; and she ushered me to the door of the sickroom, halting to whisper a parting word.

"don't you begin crying again, miss. your aunt is no more going to die than i am."

the first words spoken by mrs. edwin barley were a contradiction to this, curious coincident that it may seem. she was lying very high on the frilled white pillows, no cap on, her cheeks hectic, and her lovely golden hair failing around her head. a large bright fire burned in the grate, and a small tray, with a white cloth and cup on it, stood on the table near.

"child," she began, holding out her hand to me, "i fear i am about to be taken from you."

i did not answer; i did not cry; all tears seemed scared away then. it was a confirmation of my secret, inward fears, and my face turned white.

"what was that you said to me about the keppe-carews never dying without a warning? and i laughed at you! do you remember? anne, i think the warning came to me last night."

i glanced timidly round the room. it was a luxurious bed-chamber, costly furniture and pretty toilette trifles everywhere. the crimson silk curtains were drawn closely before the bay-window, and i could see selina clearly in the semi-light.

"your mamma told you she had a dream, anne. well, i have had a dream. and yet i feel sure it was not a dream, but reality, reality. she appeared to me last night."

"who? mamma?"

"your mamma. the keppe-carew superstition is, that when one is going to die, the last relative, whether near or distant, who has been taken from them by death, comes again to give them notice that their own departure is near. ursula was the last who went, and she came to me in the night."

"it can't be true," i sobbed, shivering from head to foot.

"she stood there, in the faint rays of the shaded lamp," pursued selina, not so much as listening to me. "i have not really slept all night; i have been in that semi-conscious, dozing state when the mind is awake both to dreams and to reality, knowing not which is which. just before the clock struck two, i awoke partially from one of these semi-dreams, and i saw your mamma at the foot of the bed--a shadowy sort of figure and face, but i knew it for ursula's. she just looked at me, and said, 'selina!' then i woke up thoroughly--the name, the sound of her well-remembered voice ringing in my ears."

"and seeing her?" i eagerly asked.

"no. seeing nothing but the opening between the curtains at the foot of the bed, and the door beyond it; nothing more than is to be seen now."

"then, selina, it was a dream after all?"

"in one sense, yes. the world would call it so. to me it was something more. a minute afterwards the clock struck two, and i was as wide awake as i am now."

the reaction came, and i burst into tears. "selina! it was a dream; it could only have been a dream!"

"i should no doubt think so, anne, but for what you told me of your mamma's warning. but for hearing that, i might never have remembered that such a thing is said to follow the keppe-carews."

what with remorse for having told her, though charged by my mother to do it, and what with my own fears, i could not speak for hysterical sobbing.

"you stupid little sensitive thing!" exclaimed selina, with a touch of her old lightness; "perhaps in a week's time i shall be well, and running about out of doors with you. go you down to charlotte delves's parlour, and get your breakfast, and then come to me again. i want you to go on an errand for me but don't say so. mind that, anne."

"no, no; i'll not say it, selina."

"tell them to give you some honey."

they brought the honey and set out other good things for me in miss delves's parlour, but i could not eat. charlotte delves was very kind. both the doctors came up the avenue. i watched them into the house; i heard them come downstairs again. the physician from nettleby went straight out: mr. lowe came to the parlour.

"my dear," he said to me, "you are to go up to mrs. edwin barley."

"is she much worse, sir?" i lingered to ask.

"i can hardly say how she is," was his answer. "we must hope for the best."

he stayed in the room himself, and shut the door while he talked to miss delves. the hall-clock struck ten as i passed under it, making me start. the hall was clear to-day, and the window and door stood a little open. jemima told me that philip king was in a sitting-room at the back, one that was rarely used. i ran quickly up to selina's chamber. mr. edwin barley was in it, to my dismay. he turned to leave it when i went in, and put his hand kindly enough upon my hair.

"you look pale, little one; you should run out of doors for a while."

his wife watched him from the room with her strangely altered eyes, and then beckoned to me.

"shut the door, and bolt it, anne." and very glad i felt to do it. it was impossible to overcome my fear of mr. edwin barley.

"do you think you could find your way to hallam?"

"i daresay i could, aunt."

"selina, call me selina," she impatiently interposed. "call it me to the last."

to the last!

"you remember the way you came from nettleby, anne? in going out at the gates by the lodge, nettleby lies on your left hand, hallam on your right. you understand?"

"oh, quite."

"you have only to turn to the right, and keep straight along the high road; in a short time you come to hallam village. the way is not at all lonely; cottages and houses are scattered all along it."

"i am sure i could go quite easily, selina."

"then put your things on, and take this note," she said, giving me a little piece of paper twisted up, that she took from under the pillow. "in going down hallam street, you will see on the left hand a house standing by itself, with 'mr. gregg, attorney at law,' on a plate on the door. go in, ask to see mr. gregg alone, and give him that note. but mind, anne, you are not to speak of this to any one. should mr. edwin barley or any one else meet you, and inquire where you are going, say only that you are walking out. do you fully understand?"

"yes."

"hide the note, so that no one sees it, and give it into mr. gregg's hands. tell him i hope he will comprehend it, but that i was too ill to write it more elaborately."

no one noticed me as i left the house, and i pursued the road to hallam, my head and thoughts full. suppose mr. edwin barley should meet and question me! i knew that i should make a poor hand at deception: besides being naturally open, mamma had brought me up to be so very candid and truthful. i had crushed the note inside my glove, having no better place of concealment,--suppose he should seize my hand and find it! and if the gentleman i was going to see should not be at home, what was i to do then? bring the note back to selina, or leave it? i ought to have asked her.

"well, my little maid, and where are you off to?"

the salutation proceeded from mr. martin, who had come right upon me at a turning of the road. my face grew hot as i answered him.

"i am out for a walk, sir."

"but this is rather far to come alone. you are close upon hallam."

"my aunt selina knows it, sir," i said, trembling lest he should stop me, or order me to walk back with him.

"oh, very well," he answered, good-naturedly. "how is she to-day?"

"she is not any better, sir," i replied. and he left me, telling me i was not to lose myself.

i came to the houses, straggling at first, but soon contiguous to each other, as they are in most streets. mr. gregg's stood alone, its plate on the door. a young man came running out of it as i stood hesitating whether to knock or ring.

"if you please, is mr. gregg at home?"

"yes," answered he. "he is in the office. you can go in if you want him."

opening an inner door, he showed me into a room where there seemed to be a confused mass of faces. in reality there might have been three or four, but they multiplied themselves to my timid eyes.

"a little girl wants to see mr. gregg," said the young man.

a tall gentleman came forward, with a pale face and grey whiskers. he said he was mr. gregg, and asked what my business was.

"i want to see you by yourself, if you please, sir."

he led the way to another room, and i took the note out of my glove and gave it him. he read it over--to me it appeared a long one--looked at me, and then read it again.

"are you anne hereford?"

"yes," i said, wondering how he knew my name. "my aunt, mrs. edwin barley, bade me say she was too ill to write it better, but she hoped you would understand it."

"is she so ill as to be in danger?"

"i am afraid so."

he still looked at me, and twirled the note in his fingers. i could see that it was written with a pencil.

"do you know the purport of this?" he inquired, pointing to the note.

"no sir."

"did you not read it coming along? it was not sealed."

"oh, no. i did not take it out of my glove."

"well--tell mrs. edwin barley that i perfectly understand, and shall immediately obey her: tell her all will be ready by the time she sends to me. and--stay a bit. have you any christian name besides anne?"

"my name is anne ursula."

"and what was your father's name? and what your mother's?"

"papa's was thomas, and mamma's ursula," i answered, wondering very much.

he wrote down the name, asked a few more questions, and then showed me out at the street-door, giving a parting injunction that i was not to forget the words of his message to mrs. edwin barley, and not to mention abroad that i had been to his office.

reaching home without hindrance, i was about to enter the sickroom, when miss delves softly called to me from the upper stairs: mrs. edwin barley was sleeping, and must not be disturbed. so i went higher up to take my things off, and charlotte delves asked me into her chamber--a very nice one, immediately over mrs. edwin barley's.

"tread softly, my dear. if she can only sleep, it will do her good."

i would not tread at all, though the carpet was thick and soft, but sat down on the first chair. miss delves was changing her cap. she wore very nice ones always.

"miss delves, i wish you'd please to tell me. do you think my aunt will get well?"

"it is to be hoped so," was the answer. "but mr. edwin barley is fretting himself to fiddle-strings over it."

"do you think she will?"

miss delves was combing out her long flaxen curls; bright thick curls they were; very smooth, and of an exceedingly light shade. she twirled two round her finger before she answered.

"yes, i think she will. it is true that she is very ill--very; but, on the other hand, she has youth in her favour."

"is she dangerously ill?"

"no doubt. but how many people are there, lying in danger daily, who recover! the worst of it is, she is so excited, so restless: the doctors don't like that. it is not to be wondered at, with this trouble in the house; she could not have fallen ill at a more unfortunate time. i think she has a good constitution."

"mamma used to say that all the carews had that. they were in general long-lived."

charlotte delves looked round at me. "your mamma was not long-lived. she died young--so to say."

"but mamma's illness came on first from an accident. she was hurt in india. oh miss delves! can't anything be done to cure my aunt selina?"

"my dear, everything will be done that it is possible to do. the doctors talk of the shock to the system; but, as i say, she is young. you must not be too anxious; it would answer no end. had you a nice walk this morning?"

"yes."

she finished her hair, and put on the pretty cap, its rich lace lappets falling behind the curls. then she took up her watch and chain, and looked out at the window as she put them round her neck.

"here's a policeman coming to the house! i wonder what he wants?"

"has there been any news yet of george heneage?"

"none," she answered. "heneage grange is being watched."

"is that where he lives?"

"it is his father's place."

"and is it near to here?"

"oh, no. more than a hundred miles away. the police think it not improbable that he escaped there at once. the grange has been searched for him, we hear, unsuccessfully. but the police are by no means sure that he is not concealed there, and they have set a watch."

"oh dear! i hope they will not find him!"

i said it with a shudder. the finding of george heneage seemed to promise i knew not what renewal of horror. charlotte delves turned her eyes upon me in astonishment and reproof.

"you hope they will not find him! you cannot know what you are saying, miss hereford. i think i would give half the good that is left in my life to have him found--and hung. what right had he to take that poor young man's life? or to bring this shocking trouble into a gentleman's family?"

very true. of course he had none.

"mr. edwin barley has taken a vow to track him out; and he will be sure to do it, sooner or later. we will go down, miss hereford."

the policeman had not come upon the business, at all, but about some poaching matter. mr. edwin barley came out of his wife's room as we were creeping by it. charlotte delves asked if mrs. edwin was awake?

"awake? yes! and in a fine excitable state," he answered, irritably. "she does not sleep three minutes together. it is giving herself no chance of recovery. she has got it in her head now that she's going to die, and is sending for martin."

he strode down to the waiting policeman. charlotte delves went into mrs. edwin barley's room, and took me. selina's cheeks were still hectic with fever; her blue eyes bright and wild.

"if you would but try to calm yourself, mrs. edwin barley!"

"i am as calm as i can expect to be," was her answer, given with some petulance. "my husband need not talk; he's worse than i am. he says now the doctors are treating me wrongly, and that he shall call in a fresh one. i suppose i shall die between them."

"i wish i knew what would soothe you," spoke charlotte delves, in a kind, pleasant voice.

"i'm very thirsty; i've taken all the lemonade; you can fetch me up some more. anne, do you stay here."

charlotte delves took down the lemonade waiter, and selina drew me to her. "the message, anne!--the message! did you see mr. gregg?"

i gave her the message as i had received it. it was well, she said, and turned away from me in her restlessness. mr. martin came in the afternoon: and from that time he seemed to be a great deal with selina. a day or two passed on, bringing no change: she continued very ill, and george heneage was not found.

i had another walk to hallam on the friday. philip king's funeral was to be on the saturday, and the walk appeared to have some connexion with that event. selina sent no note this time, but a mysterious message.

"see mr. gregg alone as before, anne," were the orders she gave me. "tell him that the funeral is fixed for eleven o'clock to-morrow morning, and he must be at hand, and watch his time. you can mention that i am now too ill to write."

"tell him--what do you say, selina?"

"tell him exactly what i have told you; he will understand, though you do not. why do you make me speak?" she added, irritably. "i send you in preference to a servant on this private business."

i discharged the commission; and, with the exception of about one minute on my return, did not see selina again that day. it was said in the household that she was a trifle better. mr. edwin barley had been as good as his word, and a third doctor attended now, a solemn old gentleman in black dress clothes and gold spectacles. it transpired, no one but miss delves knowing with what truth, that he agreed with his two brethren in the treatment they had pursued.

saturday morning. the house woke up to a quiet bustle. people were going and coming, servants were moving about and preparing, all in a subdued decorous manner. the servants had been put in mourning--mr. edwin barley was all in black, and charlotte delves rustled from room to room in rich black silk. philip king had been related to her in a very distant degree. mrs. edwin barley was no worse; better, if anything, the doctors said. from what could be gathered by us, who were not doctors, the throat was a trifle better; she herself weaker.

the funeral was late. the clocks were striking eleven as it wound down the avenue on its way to the church, an old-fashioned little structure, situate at right angles between the house and hallam. in the first black chariot sat the clergyman, mr. martin; then followed the hearse; then two mourning-coaches. in the first were mr. edwin barley, his brother, and two gentlemen whom i did not know--they were the mourners; in the other were the six pall-bearers. some men walked in hatbands, and the carriages were drawn by four horses, bearing plumes.

"is it out of sight, anne?"

the questioner was my aunt, for it was at her window i stood, peeping beside the blind. it had been out of sight some minutes, i told her, and must have passed the lodge.

"then you go downstairs, anne, and open the hall-door. stand there until mr. gregg comes; he will have a clerk with him: bring them up here. do all this quietly, child."

in five minutes mr. gregg came, a young man accompanying him. i shut the hall-door and took them upstairs. they trod so softly! just as though they would avoid being heard. selina held out her hand to mr. gregg.

"how are you to-day, mrs. edwin barley?"

"they say i am better," she replied; "i hope i am. is it quite ready?"

"quite," said he, taking a parchment from one of his pockets. "you will hear it read?"

"yes; that i may see whether you understood my imperfect letter. i hope it is not long. the church, you know, is not so far-off; they will be back soon."

"it is quite short," mr. gregg replied, having bent his ear to catch her speech, for she spoke low and imperfectly. "where shall my clerk wait while i read it?"

she sent us into her dressing-room, the clerk and i, whence we could hear mr. gregg's voice slowly reading something, but could not distinguish the words or sense; once i caught the name "anne ursula hereford." and then we were called in again.

"anne, go downstairs and find jemima," were the next orders. "bring her up here."

"is it to give her her medicine?" asked jemima, as she followed me upstairs.

"i don't know."

"my girl," began the attorney to jemima, "can you be discreet, and hold your tongue?"

jemima stared very much: first at seeing them there, next at the question. she gave no answer in her surprise, and mrs. edwin barley made a sign that she should come close to her.

"jemima, i am sure you know that i have been a good mistress to you, and i ask you to render me a slight service in return. in my present state of health, i have thought it necessary to make my will; to devise away the trifle of property i possess of my own. i am about to sign it, and you and mr. gregg's clerk will witness my signature. the service i require of you is, that you will not speak of this to any one. can i rely upon you?"

"yes, ma'am, certainly you may," replied the servant, speaking in an earnest tone; and she evidently meant to keep her word honestly.

"and my clerk i have answered to you for," put in mr. gregg, as he raised mrs. edwin barley and placed the open parchment before her.

she signed her name, "selina barley;" the clerk signed his, "william dixon;" and jemima hers, "jemima lea." mr. gregg remarked that jemima's writing might be read, and it was as much as could be said of it. she quitted the room, and soon afterwards mr. gregg and his clerk took their departure in the same quiet manner that they had come.

"i was closing the hall-door after them, when the sound of silk, rustling up, fell on my startled ears, and charlotte delves stepped into the hall from one of the passages. she had been shut up in her parlour.

"who is it that has gone out?"

but i was already half way up to selina's room, and would not hear. miss delves opened the door and looked after them. and at that moment jemima appeared. charlotte delves laid hold of her, and no doubt turned her inside out.

"anne, my dear, if i die you are now provided for. at least----"

"oh, selina! selina! you cannot be going to die!"

"perhaps not. i hope not. yes, i do hope it, anne, in spite of my fancied warning--which, i suppose, was only a dream after all. my mind must have dwelt on what you said about ursula. if you ever relate to me anything of the sort again, anne, i'll beat you."

i stood conscience-stricken. but in telling her what i did, i had only obeyed my mother. i like to repeat this over and over.

"at least, as well provided for as i have it in my power to provide," she continued, just as though there had been no interruption. "i have left you my four thousand pounds. it is out at good interest--five per cent.; and i have directed it to accumulate until you are eighteen. then it goes to you. this will just keep you; just be enough to keep you from going out as a governess. if i live, you will have your home with me after leaving school. of course, that governess scheme was all a farce; ursula could only have meant it as such. the world would stare to see a governess in a granddaughter of carew of keppe-carew."

the will lay on the bed. she told me to lock it up in the opposite cabinet, taking the keys from underneath the pillow, and i obeyed her. by her directions, i took the cabinet key off the bunch, locked it up alone in a drawer, and she returned the bunch underneath her pillow. by that time she could not speak at all. charlotte delves, happening to come in, asked what she had been doing to reduce her strength like that.

it was a miserable day after they came in from the funeral. mr. edwin barley did not seem to know what to do with himself; and the other people had gone home. mr. martin was alone with selina for a great portion of the afternoon. at first i did not know he was there, and looked in. the clergyman was kneeling down by the bed, praying aloud. i shut the door again, hoping they had not heard it open. in the evening selina appeared considerably better. she sat up in bed, and ate a few spoonfuls of arrowroot. mr. edwin barley, who was in the arm-chair near the fire, said it was poor stuff, and she ought to take either brandy or wine, or both.

"let me give you some in that, selina," he cried. and indeed he had been wanting to give it her all along.

"i should be afraid to take it; don't tease me," she feebly answered, and it was astonishing how low her voice was getting. "you know what the doctors say, edwin. when once the inflammation (or whatever it is) in the throat has passed, then i may be fed up every hour. perhaps they will let me begin to-morrow."

"if they don't mind, they'll keep you so low that----that we shall have to give you a bottle of brandy a day." i think the concluding words, after the pause, had been quite changed from what he had been going to say, and he spoke half-jokingly. "i know that the proper treatment for you would have been stimulants. i told lowe so again to-day, but he would not have it. but for one thing, i'd take the case into my own hands, and give you a wine-glass of brandy now."

"and that one thing?" she asked, in her scarcely perceptible voice.

"the doubt that i might do wrong."

jemima appeared at the door with a candle: it was my signal. selina kissed me twice, and said she should hope to get up on the morrow. i went round to mr. edwin barley.

"good night, sir."

"is it your bedtime, child? good night."